I've heard that C-Span, being unable to cover the parties held by both major presidential candidates on election night, has opted to cover Bush's. Just something to chew on. David Kocot ----- Original Message ----- From: "RL Root" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "LPOC echo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2000 4:58 PM Subject: [LPOC] Bush and Cocaine > http://www.counterpunch.org/ > > October 19, 2000 > > Bush and Cocaine > > Six months ago a CounterPuncher in whom we have absolute confidence relayed to us a > conversation he had just had with someone who had attended Yale at the same time as George W. > Bush. The Yale man told our CounterPuncher of his direct knowledge of young Bush selling > cocaine in his college years. The Yale man adamantly refused to go on the record, on the > grounds that he had no desire to authenticate a story that could only damage Bush's chances in > the race for the presidency this year. > > We relay the story now to our readers because we have been reliably informed that a New York > Times investigative team digging into George W. Bush's relationship to cocaine has unearthed a > similar story of young George W. using cocaine in bars and dealing cocaine out of a house in > New Haven. But, as yet, the Times's investigators have been unable to get anyone to go on the > record. > > As the presidential campaign heads into its final stretch CounterPunch has been disgusted, > though not particularly surprised, by the gentle handling the press has given both Bush and Al > Gore on the matter of drug use. Bush's refusal to give any direct answer on his relationship to > cocaine before 1974 is a matter of record. This can only mean that he has something to hide; > that he fears that a categorical denial could be refuted by someone with knowledge of his > activities relating to cocaine. > > The attitude of the press is that "nothing new" has emerged to justify any reprise of the > Bush/cocaine stories. Nothing new? Not a day passes in the nation's courts but that a > non-violent drug offender is put behind bars for cocaine possession, either for use or for sale > or both. Yet here is the governor of Texas, seeking to lead a nation cursed by a "war on > drugs", refusing to address questions about cocaine use in his own past. > > Al Gore has grudgingly conceded use of marijuana in the 1970s. The prime source for the drug > habits both of Gore and his wife Tipper is John Warnecke, their supplier at the time, who has > stated that at that time in Nashville Gore smoked as much marijuana as anyone he knew, > including opium-coated Thai sticks. We have heard stories, though devoid of the same > categorical eye-witness certainty of the Yale informant, of Gore's continued enjoyment of > marijuana in later years after he entered Congress. Today Gore reiterates his support for the > war on drugs and declares that imprisoned offenders should not be released until they test > clean. > > There have been many destructive campaigns by US governments, both Republican and Democrat, but > only a few with more terrible consequences than the war on drugs. At home this war has been > aimed primarily at the poor and most of all against black people. It is a war that has kicked > aside constitutional protections and crammed our prisons. Abroad the war is a rationale for > counter-insurgency. > > Today the Taliban, installed with CIA backing, now rule Afghanistan as the world's leading > supplier of heroin and morphine to the west. The Colombian military, flush with a billion in > aid from the Clinton administration, make war on desperate peasants with nothing but coca and > opium cultivation between them and starvation. > > No inconvenient questions about the drug war or any personal relationship with drugs by either > candidate have perturbed the decorum of the debates. Jim Lehrer didn't ask George W. Bush about > cocaine or Al Gore about marijuana. Yet Bush has been posturing about a crusade to restore > moral honor to the Oval Office and Gore about "personal responsibility". We await with interest > the ultimate editorial decision of the New York Times. CP > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------- > To Unsubscribe, send mail to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ---------------------------------------------------------- > -------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/16/_/475667/_/972775434/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
